Gulf Capital invests $30m in India healthcare push

Gulf is investing in an Indian expansion by ART Fertility Clinics, a United Arab Emirates-based IVF specialist set up by Spain-headquartered IVI-RMA, the largest assisted reproduction service provider globally. Last year, the private equity firm acquired 100% of IVI-RMA's Middle East operations for about $100 million.

The IVI-RMA Middle East acquisition coincided with the launch of a global platform targeting fertility services, which Gulf has described as a priority sub-sector. Expansion efforts will focus on the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

ART Fertility's existing presence in India includes two clinics across Gurgaon and New Delhi. The next locations are expected to be developed as soon as next month in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, followed by Mumbai and Chennai in May, and Bangalore and Kolkata in July. The rest of the rollout will be announced in September.

Established in 2015, ART claims to have the highest pregnancy success rate in the world at 67% with more than 5,500 pregnancies achieved to date. The company positions itself as a technological leader, screening embryos for genetic abnormalities through next-generation sequencing. It noted that some of its technologies would be deployed in India for the first time.

"ART Fertility Clinics is the fastest growing IVF service provider in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council], and we are excited to be collaborating with ART Fertility's management to take this platform to the next level," Karim El Solh, CEO of Gulf, said in a statement. "The rapid expansion of Art Fertility Clinics across Asia cements Gulf Capital's long track record of building global leaders out of the GCC."

ART describes reproductive medicine as a relatively young field seeing exponential growth worldwide, especially among urban populations experiencing changing lifestyle patterns. The IVF market in India is expected to grow more than 12% a year over the next five years, but most of the treatment protocols are based on Western treatment plans.

"While the IVF market in India is growing rapidly, there is a clear need to address issues like standardized clinical protocols based upon ethnicity, genetic makeup, structured training, and ethical practices," said Human Fatemi, group medical director for ART. "[W]e are undertaking fundamental research across all related areas including genetics, based upon our observations and trials locally."

Previous private equity investment in India's fertility services space includes TA Associates acquiring a significant minority stake in Indira IVF and Invascent Capital investing $6.2 million in Oasis Centre for Reproductive Medicine. In 2019, a healthcare platform managed by TPG Growth acquired Nova IVI Fertility, a partnership between IVI-RMA and India's Nova Medical Centers that has one of the largest IVF clinic portfolios in India.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• India
• MENA
• Gulf Capital
• Growth capital